The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to apparatus and methods for diagnostic medical imaging, such as Nuclear Medicine (NM) imaging.
In NM imaging, systems with multiple detectors or detector heads may be used to image a subject, such as to scan a region of interest. For example, the detectors may be positioned adjacent the subject to acquire NM data, which is used to generate a three-dimensional (3D) image of the subject.
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) systems may have moving detector heads, such as gamma detectors positioned to focus on a region of interest. For example, a number of gamma cameras may be moved (e.g., rotated) to different angular positions for acquiring image data. The acquired image data is then used to generate the 3D images.
The size of the detector heads may limit an available usable area for the placement of detectors, such as Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) wafers. The sensitivity (e.g., the proportion of radiation received relative to the radiation emitted) may be limited by the size of the detector heads and/or the arrangement of CZT wafers. Conventional approaches to improving sensitivity may use thicker detectors, or detectors arranged in generally identical or similar layers stacked directly one on top of each other. Such conventional approaches may not provide a desired or required sensitivity.